Run Forrest, Run! . . . . . . .

UPDATE: Nothing is happening in the NFL. When nothing finally gives way to something, this site will dutifully return to action. Until then, I’m sick of covering lawyer baloney, and am going to take a break. An actual football discussion broke out in the comment section over the weekend, so I’m going to let it ride and cede the floor to our readers, who are going to edify all of us with their astute observations and clever ripostes. Any contributions from yours truly will occur there until the blackout is lifted or the 2011 Draft arrives.

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No QB, no NT, no FA period, no trades, no word on anything, and no Mike Singletary or Alex Smith to kick around equals death by nothing in the blogpits. Heck, this scribe has been MIA for several weeks and no one has noticed, including himself.

Skeebette may have noticed, though. Yesterday, out of the blue, she gave me a Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. bumper sticker, sporting the classic STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES phrase. I was unsure whether this was a gag gift or a statement gift. She declined to reveal her motives, attempting to pawn them off as “Oh, it just seemed cute.”

Why would this seem cute, vis a vis, you know, me? Suspecting it was a trap question that would lead to a long discussion of my deficiencies as a husband, full of many STUPID DOES examples, I left the question in my head and gave it no voice.

But it did get me to thinking about Jim Harbaugh. I’ve erected this nice little pedestal for Mr. H this off season, leaping to the assumption that he knows what he’s doing and will quickly transform the 49ers into a fearsome force as soon as the litigation brakes are removed. But maybe he’s just a rookie NFL coach sitting in his dark bedroom about now and wondering why he didn’t stay at Stanford for at least another year?

The team has no viable NT and even if they draft one, that kid will not be good to go when the season starts. The defense could collapse this year. Ricky Francois and perhaps Isaac Sopoagna are the only two guys who can line up at NT now, but neither will be as good as Abrayo Franklin. The team could have a crappy run defense, a crappy pass rush, and a crappy secondary in 2011.

It’s a given that Harbaugh will improve the offense, even without a QB. Some would say the 49ers haven’t had a QB for six years anyway. Who would notice? Still, the scoreboard next year is looking a lot like Other Team: Plenty, Our Team: Not Enough.

The pleasure of having Singletary off the premises is going to dissolve about two games into next season. Fans will suddenly realize that Harbaugh isn’t the Miracle Man and we’re going to stink it up again for the ninth straight year. We’ve got nothing now, but there’s a good chance we’ll have even less than that when the season actually starts.

One thing’s for sure. When the new CBA is finally signed, this team had better make some major FA/trade moves in a hurry. That will be exciting. Unless it’s not. Unless it’s STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES.

I gotta get rid of this bumper sticker. It’s hexing me. I’m going to mail it to Judge Nelson. She can put it in her courtroom to warn the litigants.

128 comments on “Run Forrest, Run! . . . . . . .”

I checked out the Irish guy you mentioned, NoFear. A real gravel voiced wonder. I noticed that Joan Baez had a version of that song, too. I’m guessing you might need the puke bowl for that one. I’m tempted to use “Waltzing Matilda” for just about all my posts lately, but I didn’t want to look like a one category guy.

I’m back, you guys can be Beethoven. I was in Vegas for the big security/surveillance convention.
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This labor dispute has everybody in tenterhooks except me. What has me uneasy is whether to watch golf or paint dry. I’ll opt for neither.
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The 49ers haven’t had a good NT since we passed on Vince Wilfork. That was Donahue’s biggest blunder, and he had many. Franklin is the best we’ve had and he is average at best. I can still see him face first on the ground while the Eagles are running 50+ yards for a TD on a run straight up the middle. I love the 3-4 and would run it myself if I were the coach, but I would get 2 quality NTs first. Walsh usually had 3, but then Walsh knew what he was doing.

NoFear- Just like the play I mentioned above. Franklin face down on the ground while the RB ran right by him. IIRC, you were blaming Dashon Goldson for taking a wrong angle. Maybe if Franklin isn’t grazing on the grass we stop that play for no gain.
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Franklin was fairly decent in 2009, much worse in 2010. The comments you cited were from the 2009 season before he got 7 million and decided to skip camp.
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The players were being kind in 2009 but I wouldn’t mistake Franklin for Kelly Gregg, Vince Wilfork or Casey Hampton. If you think Franklin is better than any of those three I would say you don’t understand the psition. We badly need a NT, RJF is not the answer and neither is Franklin. I do think RJF has a chance to be a good 5 technique DE.
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Good to chat with you, it has been a while!

I’d say you are correct, NoFear, unless you aren’t. The answer will come when Baalke either comes up with a replacement or fails. He had to be part of the process of not re-signing Franklin, so he’d better have a solution.

Actually, two receivers did say they wouldn’t want any other QB in the league. VD and Josh Morgan, and I don’t think they were just being simpatico. I’m not sure what your point is, or even what you were saying, but the point is clear, you still hate Alex Smith. Understood.
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RJF holds the point at 5 technique, albeit inconsistently, but struggles a lot at NT. I think he is just too small to be a two gap NT. The good news is what he learned at NT can really help when he moves to DE. You have labelled RJF fairly well, I’m not sure why you don’t see any flaws in Franklin. Is he your favorite player? One of your favorite players? If so, I always like it when the D-line gets love!

Smith is not my boy. If Harbaugh wants him, great, if not, great. I’ll go with the coach on this one. You are a funny guy. I guess if you think your guy got punked you feel the need to fight back. Go for it my friend, the final say is yours.

NJ- Good call. I know about Anthony Gray because he was on the Outland Trophy watch, but I’ve got him listed as 6’0″ and 317. I haven’t seen him play but 5’11” and 330 sounds like ideal NT size. I’ll keep a closer eye on him.

I went to the CBS site and read about Gray. Looks like he weighed in at his pro day at 5’11” and 330lbs. Looks like another case of the listed height and weight from the roster being balderdash. One thing is for sure, he doesn’t impress much vs Tulsa. Take a look.
.http://youtu.be/KL67Y8Xny1Q

This is where the lockout really stinks. Normally, Maiocco and Barrows, et al, could be asking Baalke about this NT problem staring the defense in the face, but he can’t talk about the draft, for obvious reasons, and can’t discuss FAs because of the lockout. In the meantime, fans are stuck wondering WTF they plan on doing about the hole in the middle of the Dline.

Chuck, I also wanted to comment on your sites’ pic with the 4 SB Ring Bearers. Last Summer in Canton, I got Keena Turner to stop and join my Oldest Son and I for picture. Very gracious guy and, now a proud addition to my Game Room Photo Wall. He said he’s always got time for fellow 9er Fans, great guy.

Joe and Steve got within 15 feet of us but, were whisked into Jerry’s Post Induction Ceremony Festivities without any Fan interaction unfortunately.

We did get Derrick Deese to pose with us too and, Matt Maiocco made time to meet with us too.

I’m guessing we want Ponder. He is the prototype WCO QB in the draft. Having said that I think we would take Gabbert at 7 or ponder at 45. I don’t think either will be there. I would guess there is a decent chance of Kaepernick or Dalton available at 45. I would also like to take a flier on Enderle or Tyrod Taylor in the 5th thru 7th.

Trade up for Patrick in 1.
Trade up for Ponder in 2.
Just a thought, with all the picks they have. Probably impossible, but hey…
That would be two of the three most glaring needs, IMO. There are certainly more (NT comes to mind as does C, RG – LOL).

I like Ponder but, I have no feel for the elbow issues he’s had? Risky to pay millions for a squeaky elbow in this game but, if the MDs say good to go, it’s ok by me.

Hard to stack a logical Draft Board when we have such a glaring need at QB and on D. You know me, Fat Man in the Middle should come above all else in the 3-4 and, the QB will take time to provide any help so, go Defense early and look for the QB Mid, get depth late.

My gut feeling is that any of the QBs this year will be a crap shoot. I’d still like to pick up a vet to start now, whenever trading/FA’s possible.
Question, since I haven’t been paying attention: Can we trade up in the draft with no CBA?

Berger, don’t discount DT Terrell McCLain/USF 6’2″ – 305 either. His former Coach Jim Leavitt is on our staff now and, Maiocco did a nice piece on him related to his relationship and work with Gruden in Tampa.

McClain is similar in size to Dareus and is very active. He’s another guy that could be off the Board late 2 into 3.

NJ- Thanks for the tip, I’ll look him up.
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The thing about the lock-out/hold-out is we think Harbaugh is going to be a good coach but that is all theory. We all want to see the praxis part to see the reality.

Want me to dig up some of Barrows’ Alexcrap from last camp?
How Alex was tearin’ it up on the practice field, and what a great year he was going to have?
Barrows is worse than Lynch at Alexcusing. I didn’t see any more of that drivel after Alex took the league lead in picks, turnovers AND penalties during that 0-I can’t count that high start.

I know, Skeebs, but Barrows asked the question in the first place, then framed the article around the response. Typical Barrows Alexcusing.
Barely a whimper about how Alex is an UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENT because Alex REFUSED a ONE year deal!
If Barrows were objective, that would’ve been the article.

Well, there are a lot of football people that think they can salvage something out of Alex, NoFear. If there WAS a FA period, he’d be heading to one of a number of teams. AZ, Seattle, Buff, to name a few.

Blind animosity doesn’t serve anyone in the game.

As far as Harbaugh goes, Smith may turn out to be his only option. And Harbaugh won’t trash him at this point in the-aseason-that-may-not-be. As crappy as he’s been, Carr is worse, and throwing a rookie back there isn’t in the cards as well.

I’d hate to be Alex’s agent when FA reappears. Can you imagine, the phone ringing off the hook night and day?
Multi-year, 8 figure, partial team ownership offers, with all 32 teams just whizzing all over themselves trying to outdo each other just for a chance at the future perennial Pro-Bowler?
Tough job, but his cut will let him buy an island or two and retire.
Or maybe a hot dog stand on Centennial…

He’ll be in demand as a backup – he might turn out to be an excellent backup.
Or a prayer (see Arizona, Washington).
At best, a part-starter for an 18 game season.
I just don’t see anybody jumping over barrels to make him their undisputed #1.

Let get this straight? Mike nolan picks Alex Smith #1 overall and starts him in year one. The next coach, Singletary, starts him and raves about him ubtil he fires his OC and decides to tell the next OC to run the ball in the 2nd Q with a 27 polint lead when we got the lead by passing. The next coach, Harbaugh, offers him a contract and openly tells the media he wants him back. The only reasons he is not back is the moratory and Smith’s decision to try the market.
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Here is the puzzling part, how come the bloggers know more than the coaches? Maybe the bloggers should coach the team? By reading their comments it seems they know more than the coaches.

It’s the perfect storm of uncertainty for Alex. He came to a shitty team with no offensive weapons, did OK his second year, and then what? 2 lost years to injury and ineptitude. Judging strictly by the numbers, he’s shit. There have been games where he looks great. There are games he looks like burnt dogshit on a stick. He’s never really put 2 solid games together in a row. Take into account the fact that Singletary/Raye ran the most basic and unimaginative offense in the past 30 years, does that change things? Who knows?

Some people quail at the fact that maybe, just maybe, somewhere along the line, they should have at least tried (for more than one game) to build a style of offense around the type of QB he is. More shotgun. More spread formations.

Nolan and McCarthy didn’t do it. Nolan and Turner didn’t do it. Smith missed out on Martz. Then we got Jimmy-hat Raye and the Fred Flintstone offense.

The point? There are plenty of NFL GMs and OCs out there who think they can get Smith to the point of being a solid back up, or spot starter. After that remains a mystery. A resurgence? Hey, it’s possible. Unlikely but possible. He’s still young.

One thing’s for sure, if they somehow end the lockout before the draft (or soon after), Alex is gone, and the whine train can finally cease. Then I wouldn’t be surprised to see Josh johnson come back into the fold . . .

Unca- I’m not advocating to keep Alex. I’m just being amazed at how these bloggers know so much more than the coaches. Even the ex coaches who do our games agree with our current coach. I love coming here to learn more than I could by listening to Harbaugh or Billick.

Hmmmm, three months to sign Alex and he’s A UFA!
That’s not mentioning that the Niners had all last season to offer him an extension and didn’t! (As I recall, when Alex’s agent showed up in camp last year, Alex asked about an extension.)
“Some bloggers” must know more about the Niners intentions, past and present, than appears visible to the naked eye concerning FORMER NINER ALEX SMITH!

Berger, I ain’t either. Alex is an enigma wrapped in a mystery wrapped in a turd. The choice may be made for the team by the course of events, anyway.

What’s funny, NoFear, is the asshole calling everyone that doesn’t agree with him, an asshole. Typical bullshit from you. We can all get along as long as we all agree with the turd blossoms that spring forth from your keyboard.

You’ll have to excuse my bad memory, I remember the name of neither the book nor the author, but…

The guy who used to write the last page article for SI a few years back caddied one round for some of the biggest names in golf, then wrote a book.

Some of these pros were gentlemen, on and off the course.
Some were complete asses.

Then there was John Daly. He was a nutjob. And an ass. Couldn’t tell if he was an ass because of being a nutjob or vice versa.
I’m paraphrasing from memory, that’s a double whammy: “I’m big. My swing is big. Ask the ladies – they don’t call me BIG John Daly for nuthin’!”

He seemed from the book to be Costner’s character in “Tin Cup” before Rene Russo saved his butt.

That’s the one, Chuck – thanks!
The funny thing is, I found the book an entertaining bit of light reading, nothing more or less.
So, I remember almost nothing in it. But I DO remember that little about Daly. Guys like him give sports character(s)!

Nolan built the defense from the back to the front, just like any moron would do, but he did get paid. Any idiot Nolan fans out there? If so, you can be labeled a moron just like your hero Nolan. Will we ever recover from the Donahue/Nolan debacles. I’m so glad we booted the suit! NJ49er was a genius when he displayed that sign at Giants stadium, “Boot the Suit.”
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Unfortunately we are still paying for hiring Mike Nolan, and his one year wonder, Abrayou Franklin. Anybody actually think we had one win with either of the idiots? Please declare. Anybody who thinks Franklin is a winning NT got stick on a one year contract run. Blogs are made for negativos who back idiots. They love to declare by giving opposite negative comments. And sometimes they declare by making confusing comments that sound like they are questioning and witty. Most mnost people can see through the obfuscations.

Am I alone when I say Mike Nolan was a terrible coach? We are still losing becuse we hired him and his asst head coach Mike Sngletary. Remember, he drafted Alex Smith. I swear, if you think Nolan was a good coach I can’t think you know anything about football. He was the worst. When he threw is QB under the bus he was a Brat Worst! Then he threw other players under the bus and became the fans Knock Worst! In between he threw Ann Killion under the bus and became the Nolan we all know, the worst coach in the NFL. Any moron to defend this guy? He drafted Alex Smith.

I think Nolan was worse than Singletary. Singletary at least had a vision, as bad as it was. Nolan decided a different OC and a different offensive system each year was in vogue. Any genius out there agree with Mike Nolan? I’m fairly sure there could not be one Mike nolan in 49er land. Remember, he drafted Alex Smith.

I thought Donahue was as bad a situation as we ever had, but then we add Nolan afterwards. Only a moron could be a Nolan fan. Any Nolan fans out there? Any Mike Nolan fan would have to be an Alex Smith fan.

Why does America accept $4.00 a gallon gas? Because the President is a Democrat. Unions protect themselves. RT loves 4 dollar gas and Democrats. RT, can I send you my gas bill, maybe Obama will give you a bail out? I guarantee the price of gas would be front page if Bush was President. What say you RT? Mr #1 Hitler defending, eevrybody gets paid by the government, we can afford anything, Democrat socialist.
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Obama is an anti American Muslim. Period, end of story. The only diffderence between Hitler and Obama is Obama, by law, can’t fire uip the ovens. Thank goodness, because no doubt I’d be the first one in. Democrats are nothing but anti American. Gimme, gimme, Jimmy Jimmy.

#1 Hitler defending? Oh c’mon, Reno. You’ve got to do better than that. I was a German lang/lit major for awhile at Cal while I tried unsuccessfully to sneak in the back door of their economics program (it didn’t take but a handful of JC transfers, and I was too busy playing tennis and chasing women to keep my grades up that high in JC). So if you’re jealous that I have a better education on Germany and Nazism, sobeit.
Seems like you’d be the Hitler lover, though. Nazi Germany was a planned capitalist economy financed by folks like Alfred Krupp, Fritz Thiessen, Willy Messerschmitt – you know, those wonderful unregulated capitalists you so admire.
Seems like there weren’t many socialists around to help, since the ones who weren’t killed in the Night of Long Knives in 1934 were some of the first in the concentration camps. But you wouldn’t be so educated as to know that, would you?
By the way, Nazis=National SOCIALIST Workers Party, Arbeit Macht Frei=Jews who worked hard enough would be allowed to leave the death camps free men,Lebensraum=All the Ukranians had to do was just die on their own, so the Nazis didn’t have to kill them to make “Living Room” in the East for the expansion of Germany. And by the way, Hitler was President of Germany. You must hate Presidents, huh?

I don’t disagree with the precept of less government, NoFear. But the details are bloody sticky, don’t you think?

Sherman Anti-Trust Act: do we abolish that Republican law? Look at what Bush did with Microsoft. We don’t use it anymore anyway.

Clean Air and Clean Water Acts: do we abolish those Republican laws?

Voting Rights Act/Civil Rights Act?: Democratic

Social Security/Unemployment Insurance/40 hour work weeks/Child Labor Laws?: Democratic (SOCIALIST laws created by Bismarck’s Germany BTW, to prevent another revolutionary attempt like in 1848)

Largest Military in the World, with troops in 187 countries?:
Why leave status quo? Small government is GOOD, right. That means small military, too.

Everybody’s got something they believe strongly in. I personally believe in a Balanced Budget Amendment (not that it would do any good), but Reagan/Bush/Bush/Obama have the country so far in debt now, it’s not enough.
The debate is endless. I’ll just leave it at needling Reno and Chuck (hey Chuck! You know Bill Walsh was a socialist, right? He sold those socialist Volvos from that horrible socialist Sweden country. Damned socialist.)
I’ll try to stick to football. PP in the 1st, Ponder in the 2nd, OLB in the 3rd, NT 4th, FB 4th, C, RG, OLB, Q, CB…
Maaybe not. Maybe I’ll just continue to bash Alex and wait for the draft.

RT- Don’t worry about riling me, that’s what I was trying to do to you last night. Turnaround is fair play.
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The only politician that balanced the budget was Newt Gingrich with his contract with America. Somehow the Dems like to give the credit to Clinton.
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How are you liking the 4 dollar gas? O seems to like it. Kenya keeps telling everybody to come see where O was born. And yes, he is a Muslim.

“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.”

We have an alert and knowledgeable citizenry, when it comes to who Britney Spears is fucking, or what Lindsay Lohan is drinking, or how big Lady Gaga’s tits are.

On everything else: not so much.

And yeah, government should be small. But neither party really wants that, and neither do a lot of the tea party folks. Most folks just have a preference, either for big government in your pocket, or in your bedroom. You pays your money and you takes your chances.

You want to start cutting the bureaucracy? Let’s start by making the politicians use the same health care as we do. Nothing else could fix the system faster. Let us then cut the pensions in half. They get rich for life just by serving 6 years. Then impose term limits. Some of these scums have just too much power and abuse it often. Their raises should be voted by the people in a general election. That is just a start but it is a good start.

NoFear, I was yanking your chain to some degree, but not entirely. My Dad worked in the mil/ind complex all his life, starting with CW development in the Army in WWII and progessing to private industry spy satellites. The amount of money his company made for intentionally designed worthless crap (based on incentive clauses in govt contracts he in small part helped negotiate) was astounding!
More money for VA Hospitals and Benefits, absolutely! New and “better” designed by committee camel weapons systems, not so much…

Berger I liked Nolan for his organizational contributions and attention to detail.

However, when he opted to take the centerpiece of his Draft legacy and, throw him under the bus, in an apparent effort to challenge his manhood, I accepted that as mutiny in the locker room.

I saw nothing but a collassal failure at the top. Harm done within the rank and file to divide a locker room is career suicide IMO and, warranted my call for his dismissal.

What killed me most, in hindsight, is how there was no real Draft strategy in place to develop a younger core of Defensive talent, especially at NT/DE. For a guy that lived on Defense, he and Scotty failed miserably to stock the most basic 3-4 needs.

What little tyrant in the history of the United States has ever attacked us, NoFear?
Bin Laden? He was an independent, sheltered by the very people we spent billions putting into power in the first place – The Taliban, formerly The Northern Alliance. The best weapons systems money could buy couldn’t stop failed intelligence, ignored warnings (“Osama bin Laden determined to attack United States” left unread), and general ineptitude (allowing him to leave Somalia alive).
Fear mongering to perpetuate a bloated mil/ind complex, that is all. Have the North Vietnamese Commies invaded Venice Beach yet? No, we buy T-shirts from them now. With cotton we sold them.
Don’t think I’m alone in believing we shouldn’t spending our grandchildren’s money trying to be the world’s policemen.
I have one brother who has worked for NATO for decades, including a couple trips to Afghanistan. Our own allies think we’re fools for our Pax Americana attitude. They do appreciate our help, but many think we’re WAY overboard in our global empire.

RT- I just finished reading your “General Welfare” article. You commies crack me up. Mandeville was a socialist. Just because he wanted to privatize Socialism does that make him a Capitalist. I guess it is all in how one sees it, just like the “General Welfare” clause. One thing I learned from your article is they made it a broad statement for good reason, so we we could argue over it!

The NFL continues happily along promoting a 2011 season they fully plan to sabotage. We already have a pre-season schedule of games that will likely not be played, and today the league will announce the regular season schedule that will partially or not at all be played. With the 49ers’ luck being of the toilet variety this century, the games missed will no doubt be the games we might have been favored to win. Like a game against the Cardinals.
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The league also continues to nonchalantly promote next week’s 2011 Draft, where teams will select players that will have little chance of playing any games this season. I suppose many of these players will end up on the taxi squad this year, which will probably be temporarily expanded to accommodate their uselessness.
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When the draft concludes, fan outrage will begin to gather steam, legislators will debark from their usual agendas of uselessness and money laundering to bloviate about this national crisis of unfootballness, and the POTUS will take a break from posing as a guy in charge of a nation to bloviate about issuing an executive order for the football world to return to work or face some serious vague penalties.
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Yada yada yada.

“Even after the Super Bowl victory of the New Orleans Saints, I have noticed a large number of people implying with bad jokes that Cajuns aren’t smart. I would like to state for the record that I disagree with that assessment. Anybody that would build a city five feet below sea level in a hurricane zone and fill it with Democrats is a damn genius”.

-At least the Niners aren’t throwing away a home game this hypothetical season.
-@Baltimore on Thanksgiving should take care of one potentially miserable cold weather date.
-Pissburgh in December could treat the nation to the difference between a perennial contender and a ??? We’ll just have to wait and see.